Hi, Looks like I will be spending a good while in China and I'd love to read your recent experiences with VPNs, general internet use there. (I noted a question about this from almost two years ago, with lots of people speaking well of witopia, can believe things have changed.) I'll be in Chongqing, for what that's worth. Thank you for taking a moment to help me.
posted by ambient2
on Apr 22, 2014 -
7 answers

I've been having internet issues at work for a while now. I'm using Mavericks on a retina MBP, and the internet will repeatedly just start being abysmally slow connecting to websites. [more inside]
posted by thewumpusisdead
on Apr 17, 2014 -
8 answers

The company I work for is located in the midtown area (30th St./Park Ave) of Manhattan, New York City. We (and the rest of the building) are using Time-Warner Cable, and it's slow and unreliable. We're an Internet startup, so when the Internet is down, everybody leaves to go work from home. What options do we have, aside from moving our office? [more inside]
posted by gentle
on Apr 4, 2014 -
16 answers

I'm moving flats and want to bring my fibre optic broadband service with me. The exchange is fibre-enabled, but I can't seem to find a straight answer on whether the specific flat I'm moving into is. How can I clear this up? [more inside]
posted by Put the kettle on
on Mar 26, 2014 -
6 answers

What can I show children to inspire and wow them? I teach children aged between 9 and 11. I'm looking for video clips (or other) to show the children that will blow their minds - or at least, prompt discussion, broaden their horizons and take them outside of the confines of the four walls of the classroom. [more inside]
posted by schmoo
on Mar 18, 2014 -
21 answers

Sometime this year, the web sites I'm responsible for should surpass 100 million page views per month. That seems like a milestone worth acknowledging! What are some fun ways my small development team could commemorate the occasion? [more inside]
posted by scottatdrake
on Mar 10, 2014 -
9 answers

I value my privacy, and knowing that people I don't really know can easily discover my current physical location makes me feel queasy inside. How can I use the internet/social without basically shouting to the rest of the internet "this is where my body is right NOW!"? Details inside. [more inside]
posted by Kamelot123
on Mar 4, 2014 -
12 answers

A friend told me that I should ditch the FIOS router Verizon gave me a few years ago and buy an off-the-shelf router for better results. Has anyone had any luck doing this? I've searched the internet and I'm not able to find any specific details on what routers one would buy to do this.
posted by photoslob
on Mar 3, 2014 -
5 answers

I'm looking for an old website, maintained by a college professor, with computer, physics, and grad-school related humor colelcted from around the Internet. [more inside]
posted by thegears
on Mar 1, 2014 -
4 answers

I have a four letter twitter username. Several times a week, different Japanese twitter users will send me more than 100 mentions, usually gibberish or numbers. I think it's a sort of game or trolling, but I want to understand why. [more inside]
posted by clearlydemon
on Feb 17, 2014 -
6 answers

I've always been interested in observing the crazy things people do, especially when then Internet is involved. I'm working on a paper detailing the various drama/scandals that have occurred via the Internet, especially within fandom (however, fandom involvement isn't necessary). Two incidents that I've already researched and plan on using are this and this. Bonus points for topics that have occurred more recently and that have blogs or forum threads with first hand accounts from people directly involved. Thanks!
posted by sarahgrace
on Feb 15, 2014 -
16 answers

Lately when I turn on my Mac, it detects an Airport Extreme base station. I don't know where the station is; I don't have one and I don't know the password to the one being detected. The Airport Extreme is chosen instead of my home network for internet access, and even when I manually cancel it and choose my own network, I sometimes lose connectivity as the computer returns to the Airport Extreme as a default connection. Lately, this is also happening with a PC and a Kindle, making it hard on all devices to choose my home network and keep it as a default.
posted by layceepee
on Feb 15, 2014 -
2 answers

I just moved into my first multistory home. Time Warner Cable installed their wifi modem on our second floor, and we have a very weak wifi signal in our (finished) basement. I'd like to know how to boost our wireless signal with minimal sacrifice of bandwidth/speed, and without having to have TWC come in again and move our modem to the first floor. Details within. [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Feb 15, 2014 -
11 answers

I browse the internet using Firefox Portable (run from a USB) on whichever PCs I'm using (at work, at the public library, on friends' PCs, etc.), and Firefox on my smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S3). Is there some way (e.g. software I can install) that I can have every URL I visit automatically sent to my email address? [more inside]
posted by paleyellowwithorange
on Feb 13, 2014 -
4 answers

So we're looking at wedding venues in fairly remote spots (in the US) where there's no cell phone or Internet connectivity for at least 5 miles in any direction. We'd like to be accommodating of our guests, so what can we do to bring connectivity to these venues? [more inside]
posted by gchucky
on Feb 9, 2014 -
12 answers

So budget has been a bit tight these days and I realized I'm losing a-lot of money into cell phone and internet bills. I have the nagging suspicion that I'm paying more than others.
Do people know any tactics to use to bring down internet and cell-phone rates?
I've tried threatening to quit before, with some success, but I think they have that on record now and it seems to work less well. [more inside]
posted by cacofonie
on Feb 7, 2014 -
11 answers

In 2014,what options are now available to an entrepreneur with very limited tech knowledge? Is it now more feasible to build a (Minimum Viable Product) site using more turnkey methods, like site builders, pre-made themes, etc., than it used to be? I realize that really getting something tuned to where I ultimately want it will require tech help. But to get the ideas roughed in and functioning, so as to attract investment and help, what can a non-programmer do/use nowadays?
posted by skypieces
on Feb 3, 2014 -
14 answers

Um, hi guys. I know there are some other writers on MeFi (help me PhoBWanKenobi...) and I've seen a few previous questions here about writing fiction and non-fiction, but I think my Ask is specific enough to have merit: [more inside]
posted by polly_dactyl
on Jan 31, 2014 -
25 answers

So, I just finished building a new computer and have installed windows, all the driver CDs, etc. Then I went to connect it to the internet so I could install some anti-virus software, download the rest of the drivers, etc and no dice. I feel bad having to ask for help, since I'm a computer geek, but well, it is ethernet straight into a modem; normally I just plug it in and it works. [more inside]
posted by Canageek
on Jan 30, 2014 -
12 answers

I need to be able to watch live streaming video for a couple hours so that I can do a live transcription. My house wifi isn't good enough even with the router sitting in my lap. The video cuts out sometimes. [more inside]
posted by aniola
on Jan 30, 2014 -
3 answers

Can anyone refer me to an attorney or paralegal who is very experienced at writing the various types of legalese needed for web sites/apps, desktop software, etc.? [more inside]
posted by Dansaman
on Jan 30, 2014 -
3 answers

So, one week ago I posted an ad on the website "HotPads", advertising my house in Portland for rent, for $2395. A few days later, I noticed that someone had posted a duplicate ad of my listing, but for $1900. People then started knocking on my door (the address on my ad), all saying the same thing -- telling me about a guy in Brooklyn, NY, who is USING MY NAME, posing as me, sending people emails and talking with them on the phone, trying to scam them into sending him a deposit for my house. Gah! [more inside]
posted by dacoit
on Jan 29, 2014 -
6 answers

I'm in the process of setting up a home server that I would like to be able to address by the same domain name ( www.whatever.org ) both from the outside world and from within my home network. Is there an easy way to do this? [more inside]
posted by metadave
on Jan 20, 2014 -
5 answers

Suppose I want to use my phone and computer like a normal human being (I do not want to jump through lots of annoying technical hoops every time I make a call or send email or browse a web page), but I want to minimize how much government agencies can learn about me. What are some reasonably cheap (free is best) and transparent methods or tools or products I could use? And what are some more secure (if more elaborate and annoying) methods I could use supposing I didn't mind jumping through a few extra hoops every once in a while if the stakes were high enough?
posted by pracowity
on Jan 20, 2014 -
11 answers

After a lifetime of messing around on the Web, I'm trying to approach it in a meaningful way. Stoic philosophy has made a difference in my life, and I was wondering if someone could point me out to thinkers or philosophers of that particular school who have spent time with Twitter, Facebook, etc..
posted by Jonny Camaney
on Jan 18, 2014 -
7 answers

I have software that I can set to do certain types of cleaning each time the computer restarts; delete temporary internet files, empty recycle bin, etc. I can also set it to delete cookies but I don't do it frequently because whenever cookies are deleted, specifically, the functionality on my Twitter account drops, i.e. I can't type in the comment box, I can't see new interactions and I can't see who is or isn't following me. I have to beg the company to do something (which they may or may not do over time) and eventually, functionality comes back. I've tried different browsers whenever I delete cookies and the same thing happens. I haven't noticed if I'm having problems with any of the other social media I use. Why is this happening and can I do anything to avoid it?
posted by CollectiveMind
on Jan 16, 2014 -
8 answers

Hi everyone,
For the past 5 years I've used LinkSys BEFSR41 (version 4) router and generally haven't had too many issues but for the past 6 months its been pretty hellish as I have intermittent dropped connection and LinkSys says that this model is no longer supported and has no active firmware upgrades.
My household has 3 computers hard-wired and connect at all times. One of them is hooked up to online tv streaming so you could say the internet is always 'on' here. [more inside]
posted by bostonhill
on Jan 14, 2014 -
13 answers

Video and audio of online videos (YouTube, Hulu, etc.) stutter quite often when I play them. My laptop is not old by any means and it's been recently formatted. I've updated all the drivers and tried using both the default and HTML 5 Beta players on YouTube; no difference. Seems to be worst in Chrome. Any idea why this is happening? Thanks.
posted by gman
on Jan 11, 2014 -
17 answers

I have a "WiFi-Ready" SmartTV (meaning it doesn't have a built-in wireless adapter, but has USB ports for one and ethernet port) and I'm looking to avoid the additional adapter by utilizing the fact that it is HDMI 1.4 compliant and my computer is 3 feet away with a decent internet connection. I have the appropriate HDMI /w Ethernet cable but don't know if this is something that was at all intended when the standard was put together. [more inside]
posted by gzimmer
on Jan 5, 2014 -
6 answers

I really love works of fiction that use the style, setup, or form of another media product as a means of storytelling and sometimes subversion. For example: TEDxSummerisle (complete with tweets and botched livestream) and The Theory of Narrative Causality, written primarily in the form of Livejournal posts by the Sherlock Homes fandom (inc comments and bits of fanfic) as well as GChats, TVTropes, and related media. What other similar works are out there? [more inside]
posted by divabat
on Jan 4, 2014 -
22 answers

I give up.
I saw a flash cartoon. Maybe, what, ten years ago? There was a miniature king. Birds. Talking birds? It was dream-like. The sound sparse and excellent. I remember the thing being theme-wise pretty dark. I've since looked high and low and have not been able to find it.
Any ideas?
posted by Time To Sharpen Our Knives
on Dec 28, 2013 -
5 answers

I'm interested in what people have done to find and then delete their personal information (address, especially) from online directories. I've deleted my info from WhitePages and Spokeo, but I'm wondering what other sites I should look at or if there's a master directory of some sort out there. Googling doesn't turn up much, but I know my information could still be out there.
Thank you.
posted by madonna of the unloved
on Dec 17, 2013 -
5 answers

I'd like to move from using a land line to a VOIP service over my CenturyLink DSL. I'm afraid the service will suck. How can I evaluate this before committing to porting my phone number? [more inside]
posted by diode
on Dec 13, 2013 -
6 answers

I'm in need of a new webhost, and I need the following: SSH/SFTP, PHP support, ability to run background processes (namely the Unix version of Dropbox), webmail forwarding, and monthly payments. I don't need much space (1 GB would likely be plenty) or bandwidth (1 GB/mo? maybe?), and the Dropbox process is literally the only thing I would have running. What's my best, cheapest option? Thanks!
posted by reductiondesign
on Dec 12, 2013 -
16 answers

One of my computers connects to the Internet just fine using the wireless router but the other computer only intermittently connects with more than 1 or 2 mbps. This computer connects normally when I connect using an ethernet cable. [more inside]
posted by Defenestrator
on Dec 8, 2013 -
6 answers

I'm trying to steer myself toward some daily routines beyond just human maintenance and sustenance. I don't have any ultimate goals to achieve, it's more about daily practice and keeping myself focused on "keepin' on keepin' on" in a few areas that are important to me but that I tend to neglect.
I can't find quite what I'm looking for with Google. I can best describe what I want by describing how I would do it on paper:
(1)Create a question form with a list of questions and some space to respond essay-style to each question.
(For myself the questions would be something like "How was your meditation today?" "What new thing did you create today?" "What artist did you read about today?")
(2)Photocopy this form 100 times or so.
(3)Fill out one form each day.
Is there a free site where I can do this online, or should I just create it on paper with some photocopies in a three-ring binder?
posted by cellura p
on Dec 4, 2013 -
7 answers

I've been doing research involving the treatment of musicians under repressive regimes. A while back I found a graph that had a list of countries, and for each country listed the number of musicians killed, tortured, abducted, assaulted etc. in a certain period of time. But I've lost this graph!! Can you help me relocate it? [more inside]
posted by switcheroo
on Dec 2, 2013 -
2 answers

Four days ago, my Comcast cable internet service began slowing down in the evenings. I know this is normal behavior for cable service, since bandwidth is shared within communities. However, my usual 25 Mbps has slowed to somewhere between 1 and 4 Mbps after 5 PM, with the occasional 20 (very rare). I've seen it as low as 300 Kbps. I checked last night at 2 AM and it was clocking in at 50, which is what I pay for. What can I do? [more inside]
posted by alligatorman
on Dec 1, 2013 -
13 answers

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